L.V. Shaposhnikova

THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING STAR

“Urusvati” place of researches, place of science, must be built in the Himalayas, within the borders of ancient Aryavarta. Again human spirit, purified by continuous currents of Himalayas, will search in tireless labor. Medicinal herbs, medical researches, wonderful magnetic and electric currents, unique conditions of heights, unique luminescence of planetary bodies with astrochemical rays, radioactivity, - and all inexpressible treasures, preserved only in the Himalayas <...> In these areas, where the great wisdom of the Rig-Vedas was crystallized, where Mahatmas themselves passed, here, in the caves and on the tops, the power of human thought was accumulated!

In prospect I see that the “Urusvati” Institute, where, as we know, unique collections are kept in perfect order, can become the Center-Museum affiliate, as a joint Soviet-Indian institution. Of course, the final settlement of this problem will require elaboration of many legal issues, and a group of specialists (ornithologist, zoologist, botanist, and, probably, archeologist and folklorist) to accept the collections, but all this is quite solvable. We shall be able to approach this matter constructively only when the Center-Museum and the Roerich Foundation start their work in Moscow.

Our great compatriots Nicholas and Helena Roerichs were characterized by a rare quality. They knew how to implement thought into action. The thoughts of a new science that we find in the Living Ethics and the Roerich’s studies, in 1928, took shape of the Institute of Himalayan Studies which was called “Urusvati”, what means in translation from Sanskrit “The Light of the Morning Star”. That was time when traditional science had entered another period of crisis, when its great discoveries and findings could get no adequate explanation either in the scientific theory of cognition, or philosophic thought of Europe. Some outstanding scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, started expressing an idea that the end of science was coming, that all it could do had already been done, and, in its essence, it was turning into technical service for various requirements of human society, and did not need any more research results in fundamental science. Another group of equally famous scientists was seeking for a way out of the existing situation, and paid more and more attention to metascience, in the space of which they guessed or intuitively sensed a prospect for further scientific advancement. Spiritual methods of metascientific cognition gave hope for fruitful findings in the field of science.

It was at that time that the books of the Living Ethics, philosophy of Cosmic Reality started to appear, they said a lot about the great significance of science and its researches, and raised the problem of new, transformed science, offering a real possibility for going out of the crisis. The Living Ethics contained not only a new system of cognition, corresponding to being formed cosmic mentality, but also showed a new way for development of empiric science itself. “Knowledge comes before everything, one of the Living Ethics books said. – Everyone who has brought a small particle of knowledge is already a benefactor of mankind. Everyone who has collected sparkles of knowledge will be a giver of Light. Let us learn to protect every step of scientific cognition. Neglect for science is immersion into darkness.

Everyone has the right to get access to the Teaching. Read the study saturated with striving for the Truth. Ignoramuses sow prejudice, without even taking the trouble of reading the book. They call the most asserting labor negation. Indeed, prejudice is a bad Advisor! But there is no way to evade all collected knowledge. Do not let us forget to say the words of appreciation to those who imprinted knowledge with their own lives”[1].

The main trend in the new system of cognition contained in the Living Ethics was the synthesis of cognition and synthesis of knowledge itself. Such synthesis energetic process united the empiric science and metascience, experimental knowledge and the knowledge received in the spiritual space of man’s creative work. Such an approach opened again the source of ancient knowledge, united speculative findings of the East and empiric discoveries of the West. Art achievements, religious experience, philosophic thought, experimental studies of empiric science – everything merged into a single synthetic picture of human cognition of the Universe. Ethical issues were given as much consideration in the Teaching as the physical laws of natural sciences and those truths that were achieved by the empiric science.

“Modern science, H. Roerich pointed out in 1935, is moving in quick steps towards all the great Truths formulated in the Oriental philosophy and religions, and soon, very soon, they will meet and stretch out hands to each other. Let us hope that our church will light up with a new mentality too, and will not remain a secondary witness of this new union. As the science has already understood that there is no matter, but just energy and vice verse. Thus, it came up to spiritualization of a Single Element. Progressive minds start to give its due to the power of thought, and even fix and measure it physically, so the spiritual merges with the material. And how can it be any other way, when Matter is just a quality of Spirit!”[2]

Paying tribute to the science, the Teachers – authors of the Living Ethics, asserted that the New World was coming “in the armor of laboratory rays”. “Collaboration of science should be attracted with all powers”[3], they pointed out. In the Living Ethics, we find high appreciation of scientific achievements. “Follow the development of science in the latest half a century; one can get amazed at the progress of knowledge[4]. Science had quite succeeded in acquisition of knowledge by way of detailed and diligent experimental work, but, at the same time, the old theory of cognition hindered its further advancement. Science lacked synthesis, and, what is even more important, it lacked relation to the Higher, what resulted in its creative potential being extremely limited. The Living Ethics, considering the essence of creative work, gives us to understand that any creation has two sources – the earthly and the heavenly, or solid matter and matter of a subtler, higher state. It so happened historically that such methods of cognition as philosophy, true art, religion, were in this or that way related to the Higher, while in science, in its contemporary state, this relation was absent. Without dwelling on the reasons for such absence, the Living Ethics suggests a number of thoughts in this connection. “Ignoramuses talk about material sciences which negate everything that is not visible to the insensitive eye. <...> When signs of the Higher World appear in consciousness, every science will be transformed. There is no knowledge that would not assert the great relationship between the worlds. There are no ways that would not lead to the Higher World. The one who does not feel the greatness of unification and Infinity has not grown up enough in his mentality”[5]. And more: “Science must consolidate the roads to higher cognition”[6]. The Living Ethics suggested to science a new system of cognition, which, together with scientific findings, will be able to bring science to the way of transformation and new paradigms. And then the illusion of “the end of science” will disappear, what will result in the heyday of new researches and new discoveries in cognition of the Universe. “Rapprochement of the worlds will pass under the sign of science”[7], the Living Ethics states. The new system of cognition, explained on pages of the Living Ethics, takes science beyond the boundaries of physical world, into boundless spaces of other states of matter. And in that Infinity, there will be no end to cognition, there will be no end to amazing discoveries, no stopping before mysterious depths of Cosmos. The knowledge obtained by the empiric method must acquire the natural links with the Higher to be correctly comprehended in all the richness of its interactions. Cosmos is filled with billions of forms of Being, and their study will give the humanity “the subtleness of understanding of the Infinity”[8]. Creation of a New World, passing to a new turn, is conditioned by growth of Knowledge, change of its quality and expansion of the space of its penetration into mysterious depths of matter and energy. “Thirst is satisfied with moisture, the Living Ethics says. – Thirst for cognition is satisfied by way of approaching the Higher World. Many scientists suffered the whole life from inexpressible longing, for they alienated themselves from cognition of the Higher World. Misery and longing of a wrong way is the cruelest, is devouring! Man, at last, finally cuts his advancement and suffers without understanding his mistake. Much malice is born in such entities. They are ready to attack even a slightest manifestation of Light”[9]. This short extract tells about a whole drama, manifestations of which can be encountered in science, when the level of mentality does not correspond to the possibilities of cognition, what often results in a cruelest fight of traditionalism against those new things that are now entering science. “The future world, Higher World, H. Roerich wrote, is coming in the armor of laboratory rays. It is laboratories that will point to the advantage of the higher energy, and will not only establish the superiority of the human psychic energy over all previously known energies, but an obvious difference in its quality will be shown, and, thus, the significance of spirituality will be established in full”[10]. Study of subtle energies of other states of matter is one of the most important tasks of the new science. These studies will lead to cognition of Higher worlds and will establish contacts with them. Scientific facts obtained in the process of researches, are already testifying to such worlds existence. “…It is time to pass from the rough layers of matter to the study of subtlest energy”[11]. And more: “Creative work, the Living Ethics authors noted, must be understood as combination of different energies, manifested by the Fire of space and the spirit of man”[12]. The higher is the spirituality of researcher himself and the level of his consciousness, and the existence in him of an ability for sensational knowledge, the closer to the reality are the results of his research. “…For major experiments, H. Roerich wrote, there must be a special selection of persons possessing high spiritual synthesis”[13]. The spirit of man, the level of his consciousness is a decisive factor in subtle studies. If nobody paid any attention to this aspect in science, and the spirit was just negated as a phenomenon, in the new system of cognition, a greatest significance is attached to the researcher’s spirituality.

Transfer to experimental studies of subtle matter and subtle energetics involves a number of difficulties of which the Living Ethics warns. Mobility of subtle structures determines the fact that results of the same experiment cannot be repeated. Subtle substances react to all cosmic and earthly conditions, perceive energetic changes in man himself, sensitively respond to many issues in him, including the mood. To get the same result, it is necessary to restore all the energetic conditions under which the initial experiment was taking place. It can be achieved extremely seldom. “Impossibility to repeat experiments with subtlest energies, we read in the Living Ethics, often repulses attention of scientists. But they forget that it is not the energy that cannot be repeated, but themselves. In addition, they cannot create repeatable environment for the experiments. Many times you have noticed how different are penetrating from outside circumstances. But even a very sophisticated scientist does not attach significance to a lot of various conditions. First of all, he does not pay attention to his mood, but the state of nervous centers will be decisive for many experiments. Also, the number of employees participating in experiments is forgotten. But even in the ancient time, and later, alchemists understood very well the value of collaboration. They knew the significance of sex too. They did not deny the moon influence and the power of visible planets”[14].

For the first time in the history of science, the system of scientific cognition included man, his energetics, his interaction with the surrounding us micro and macrocosm. According to the Living Ethics, man is a carrier of higher energy having fiery character, which does not only lead him along the path of cosmic evolution, but is also necessary in the process of cognition of specific features and mysteries of the Universe by this man. It is known that this higher energy is called psychic and is a most important condition of any creation. The Living Ethics authors believe that such energy potential is higher than the energy of disintegrated atom. “Without psychic energy, one cannot discern the ways of space. The same happens in all fields of science. It is unreasonable to neglect higher energy. Like in the times of religious wars and persecutions, daring and far-sighted cognizers must hide like alchemists from inquisition. Such a shameful situation is inadmissible”[15]. And more: “Indeed, it is high time the fiery nature of man be studied. It is high time we understand that not only will, but fiery energy shrouds the man with a salutary cloak. It is true this should be studied in laboratories, but these laboratories must be different from laboratories for soil fertilizers. It is time the scientists recognize that subtle experiments require subtle conditions. It is also time to recognize that those conditions are not created by way of mechanical disinfections. Each experiment requires spiritual fiery purification. It is true that many things can be achieved in nature and in temples, where emanations are not so soiled. But in arbitrary laboratories, where even the air is not always refreshed and the dust is full of poisonous residue, only little can be achieved”[16].

The Living Ethics new system of cognition contains indication of two phenomena, without which new science cannot exist. This is the energetics of the heart and the thought. Traditional empiric science did not study much, or did not study at all both of these. The Living Ethics authors justly assert that it is in the heart of man that the process of synthesis, which plays a most important role in the cosmic evolution, is taking place. The energetics of the heart correlates with cosmic scales. Already in the ancient times, the heart was considered the Sun of man. Between the heart of man and the Sun, there are invisible and mysterious links going out into the Infinity. The Cosmic Magnet is the Heart of the Universe which regulates its vital processes and development. “…In the basis of the whole Universe, look for the Heart!”[17] – the Living Ethics says. The human heart contains high cosmic energies, the basis of which is subtle light-and-matter. It has relations not only with physical celestial bodies, but with the worlds of a different state of matter, contains the earthly and the heavenly, the solid and the subtle. Through the heart passes the spiritual way connecting the physical world, through the Subtle world, with the Fiery world. That is why the heart is called the Bridge of the Worlds. This Bridge combines in synthesis spirit and matter, energy of the Earth and Cosmos. Physical and cosmic laws interact in it. The heart is a kind of a junction between the planet of Earth and Distant Cosmos. It is, Helena Roerich pointed out, “an amazing organ containing in itself, in its multiple centers, all creation and all psycho-life[18]. In the heart, most complicated processes are taking place, connected both with the very initial energetic structures of man and with those completing his development. The heart is the place of consciousness of the man himself, the level of which is determined by the heart energy. Placed in the heart consciousness is formed in the interaction of the earthly and the cosmic. These issues give us a possibility to consider the heart an instrument of cognition more powerful and profound than the intellect. The heart leads the intellect creating for it new possibilities and new prospects in cognition of the surrounding world. Neglect of the heart energetics and the method of spiritual cognition impedes the process of cosmic evolution and interferes with further cognition of Cosmos.

Together with the heart, a great role in cognition is played by the thought bound with strong ties with spiritual heart centers. The modern theory of scientific cognition does not touch upon this problem much, and even if it does happen sometimes, the studies of thought leave aside the most essential issues, without penetrating into the depth of such phenomenon. In the Living Ethics we find notions – thought, creation by thought, thought images. Thought as such is not only an instrument of cognition, but is a link with other being, for it is born by other being. Its origination is related to neither solid matter, nor the grey substance of the brain, which for a long time (and even now) has been considered the reason of the thought generation. Its reason, the reason of the thought lies in the energetic space of Cosmos, in its subtle and high vibration processes. If it were not like this, we would not have known what is creation of thought, or what is the energetics of thought. “Thus, the thought, the Living Ethics says, devoid of vibration of spirit, is a phenomenon of a dead state. Only vibration of spirit can create”[19]. “Let us hope, Helena Roerich wrote, that science will soon come to rescue and prove that it is the thought that nourishes life, and therefore, where the thought stops, the process of decay starts”[20].

According to the Living Ethics, the thought is not only one of the foundations of the cosmic evolution of mankind, but is a necessary, if not the most important component of the system of cognition. Without taking into account the thought peculiarities and its essence, we shall not be able to formulate a new system of cognition in the volume and dimension required by the new thinking. The Living Ethics teaching concerning the thought, so different from our understanding, testifies to the fact that its authors are in many ways ahead of the modern science in this respect. We learn that “the thought is energy”[21]. At that, energy very high and subtle, possessing a number of important characteristics. From the subtle state, it can pass over into a physical state, what expands extremely the range of its impact. Under certain conditions, its subtle energy can turn into substance. This mysterious process taking place in the depths of Cosmos is related to form creation activity developing in visible and invisible cosmic spaces. “Churning, the Living Ethics says, is the symbol of the Universe. The one who perceived such a simple process as a symbol of great action, really understood correlation between the microcosm and the Macrocosm. In physical terms, spiral rotation is the basis for accumulation of substance, but the thought works using exactly the same method. From the Heights to the chaos, the space is strained with spirals of consciousness. The thought is spirally transformed into substance, filling the whole Universe. Transformation of thought into substance must be understood and accepted. Such union will keep the substance reserves, for the thought is inexhaustible. Understanding of the thought materiality will bring much use to the Earth”[22]. This quality takes the thought out into the space of creating powers of Cosmos.

“The thought is the law of the World, the Teaching authors assert. – This law must be understood in full. The thought is not only expression in words. The sphere of the thought is also a sphere of mental energy. It is this circumstance that is missed, and only a small range of spread is ascribed to the thought. Such limitation interferes with imagining the thought beyond the planet space, or, in other words, deprives it of its majestic meaning. The thought, same as mental energy, gets due significance when understood as being beyond the Earth. The thought cannot be limited to the earthly sphere. <...> Restriction of this greatest energy serves to belittlement of human thinking as well. Indeed, the more man restricts his possibilities, the more he cuts [himself] off from great collaboration. The thought must be studied in the best scientific institutions. The thought must be put at the head of physical conditions of life”[23]. And more: “Magnetic wave, electrical sparkle, and the thought, these three wanderers meet the one striving for the Infinity”[24]. These three types of creating energy constitute the basis of our Cosmos, and the thought is the most important in this trinity, for it is the initial source of the Universe. The higher creative power created the Universe with its thought. “Thus, the Thought is the initial reason and the crown of all creation”[25], H. Roerich wrote. Due to its specific features, the thought governs one of the most important laws of Cosmos – the cause and effect relations. The thought energetic power sets to motion elemental forces of nature, which, in their essence, are immovable and inert, and require an impetus given by the thought for their development. The thought is a powerful representative of Higher worlds, woven from the light-and-matter and possessing high, incomparable with the solid world dimensions. The spacious thought most radically affects lower worlds, promoting them to ascent and transformation. But the thought creates not only in the Higher Spheres of Cosmos, where its power grows to sizes incomprehensible for us, but on the Earth as well. There are enough examples of this kind. For thousands of years, areas attracting a great number of pilgrims were formed on the Earth. These areas of regular pilgrimage are called holy, for many centuries, thousands and millions of people headed there carrying the purest thoughts. Strata of creative thoughts stay there, which, in their turn, affecting the man, transform his consciousness, if his internal structure is ready to accept it. Those who have been to holy places can tell about the amazing atmosphere reigning there, about hard to describe in words mood that seizes pilgrims, about the elevated spirits of those who sense creative energetics of lofty thoughts stratifications.

In the Living Ethics system of cognition, we find all that must be introduced into science, so that, having changed and transformed, it would turn into that new science, the deepest and subtlest researches of which could not only change our earthly world, but improve the inner world of man too.

The Roerichs lived in India for more than 30 years. This country was chosen by them not by chance. It has always been a country of a high culture, spiritual subtlety of its people, and knowledge, accumulated and not lost since the most ancient times. Many people have experienced the magnetism of India. The mystery of its great attraction lies, first of all, in continuity of its cultural tradition. For thousands of years of its existence, India has not lost a single people, a single culture. Ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, and other peoples disappeared from the face of the Earth, having left only material traces of their existence. There is no other country in the world where a many-century cultural tradition would be preserved like in India.

Here, in India, we see not its dead traces, but a live organism, live body. For many centuries, continuously, this culture has been formed, the spiritual image of Indians themselves has developed, precious stones of the Indian philosophic thought and wisdom have been polished. Culture and Beauty have created for many centuries this elastic field of powerful and subtle energetics. The fate and the gods desired that there be at least one country on the planet, capable of clearly and convincingly demonstrating the evolutionary essence of Culture and Beauty. And it was India that deserved such great honor. Relation of the Indian culture to the worlds of a different state of matter, philosophic comprehension of such relationship, and ability to take reasonable advantage of it – are the distinctive features of this culture. Entering energetic and informational exchange with India, countries and nations have received from it priceless treasures of Knowledge, true approaches towards solution of problems related to improvement of man, wise practice of development of spirit, and, finally, the cosmic view of the evolution of mankind.

And not without grounds, as long ago as in 1913, N. Roerich wrote: “Enticing is the Great Indian way”[26]. Already living in India, he was comprehending the endless character of its culture and spirit, and, the more time passed, the deeper he plunged into the wisdom and profoundness of its many-century accumulations. “With great joy I notice, he stated in 1929, the wide spread of high intellectual and artistic powers in India. Highly gifted individualities are now heading universities, institutes, and schools, and the names of Tagore, Bose, Raman, and other leaders of science and art make a live bridge between India of today and the deep roots of its past culture.

So, following the best landmarks, we reach the highest ways.

Great Vivekananda, when asked by his devoted follower what she should do in India, answered: “Love India!”

Great teachings of the Vedas, behests of Buddha, Apollonius of Tian, Paracelsus, Thomas Vaughn, Ramakrishna, countless calls of centuries and all peoples direct us to the great mountain of India, protecting the treasure.

Love India!”[27]

These words “Love India!” were a kind of the Roerichs’ slogan. They loved it, lived in it, and created in it, and not elsewhere, a unique Institute of Himalayan Studies, and called it “Urusvati” – “The Light of the Morning Star”. The institute was the first precious grain of that new science of which the Living Ethics and the Teachers, standing high on the stairs of cosmic evolution, spoke. Implementing their ideas in life, the Roerichs clearly understood why and in the name of what it was all done. The new cosmic thinking, new system of cognition, new science – all this constituted a single whole, calling the planet to overcoming the ascent to a new turn of cosmic evolution. From the very beginning and to the end, everything related to “Urusvati” was carefully prepared and elaborated by the Roerichs, starting from the Institute location, and finishing with the essence of its activities and creative work. It is known that, behind this place, lay the valley of Kullu in the Indian Himalayas. The Roerichs immediately noticed a very important circumstance – accumulation of high energetics of human thought in this space. The Himalayan slopes, rocks, and caves kept invisible accumulations of this thought which was carried by great personalities, wizards, and saints who had lived in this valley or had been there. “The Institute location, N. Roerich noted, in the ancient valley of Kullu, or Kuluta, was also lucky. Rishis and wizards of India lived in these areas. Many legendary and historical events are related to these uplands. Buddha used to pass here, and dozens of Buddhist monasteries flourished here in their time. Here, ruins of the Pandavas’ palaces, Arjuna’s cave are located, here Rishi Vyasa put together the “Mahabharata”. And here is the Viaskund – the place where your wishes come true”[28].

There were many legends in the valley. The legend of Narasimha, the patron of Kullu, drew N. Roerich’s special attention. “The valley of Kullu, he wrote, has its hero-protector – Narasimha, Rajput raja. A beautiful legend is connected with the name of Narasimha. The raja had to escape from Rajputana. Disguised like a modest coolie, the educated ruler escaped to the valley of Kullu. He concealed his personality under a cloak of a simple worker, but his great erudition did not let him stay unnoticed. The light of his justice and knowledge lit all his neighbors. The people guessed that an unusual man had appeared among them, and, of their own will, they started considering Narasimha their raja. Narasimha’s castle ruins are still standing in Naggar, and the hero’s image is erected under an old deodar. According to the legends, Narasimha protects the valley of Kullu. And cursed is the one who will arouse the hero-raja’s justified wrath. They say, he visits his country at night in the image of a majestic white-bearded prophet, and many people saw him and were blessed by the ruler. <...> Now he will protect Urusvati, our Himalayan Reseach institute!

And, above Narasimha’s image, the white peak of Guru Guri Dhar – the way of the Spiritual Teacher – towers [29].

Roerich has painting “Guru Guri Dhar”. It shows the Teacher, who had close bonds with the Roerichs and participated in creation of the Living Ethics. Mahatma, Great Soul, he once lived in Kullu, and passed through it many times. He left after himself legends, at the basis of which historical reality of the Great Teacher lies. His thought energetics is sensed in the ancient valley, it still attracts pilgrims and those who have at least once visited it. The thoughts of our great compatriots, the Roerichs, also left their traces. In the ancient times, for building a temple, an experienced and knowing priest who could orient well in subtle energetics, chose a special place. And perception of such energetics did not only allow to perform some religious ritual, but also created in the praying people the necessary mood, which helped to comprehend spiritual, invisible phenomena. As a rule, the place for a temple is beautiful. Exceptionally beautiful is the valley of Kullu, where the Institute of Himalayan studies is situated. There, the energetics of Beauty merges with the subtle energetics of great and lofty thoughts, what results in appearance of a special creative field, which was not once sensed in their work by the scientists of the Institute, and which still shows itself in a special mood and easy breath. “When you see the mineral colors of the mountains, when you study the huge geysers full of various mineral salts, when you see all types of hot springs, you understand the character of abundance of this part of the world, which is still virgin and has witnessed so many cosmic cataclysms. This place is exactly like this. This is a unique place for many scientific studies. Here you feel the feast of knowledge and beauty[30], N. Roerich wrote. And more: “If someone would set a goal to historically review the whole world’s striving for the Himalayas, it would result in an extraordinarily significant study. Indeed, if, starting from a few thousands of years ago, all the attractive power of these heights were reviewed, it would be really possible to understand why the Himalayas have the name of “incomparable”. How many Signs from the times immemorial are related to this mountain country! Even in the darkest epochs of Middle Ages, even in the most distant countries, they thought of beautiful India which, of course, culminated in the people’s imagination in sacredly mysterious snowy giants.

Let us try to bring together in our mind all those most beautiful legends which could be conceived only in the Himalayas. In doing so, first of all, we shall be struck by the amazing diversity of this heritage. Of course, this richness would be determined by many fiery strata, would become more luxurious due to generosity of many millenniums, would be crowned with the deeds of the best searchers for truth. This is all true. But for these top deeds, surrounding splendor is required, and what can be more majestic than unsurpassed mountains with all their inexpressible radiance, with all their unutterable diversity”[31].

The Kullu valley itself and adjacent to it mountain areas were the sources of all kinds of knowledge. “It was noted, N. Roerich wrote, that electrical and magnetic phenomena are especially manifest on these height. The latter secure exceptional possibilities for the study of special currents, and one can imagine what new researches could be performed by our great physicist Millican to continue his recent wonderful discoveries.

It is remarkable how all collected information is raising the significance of these areas, where the fertility of the soil is combined with the unusual phenomenon of the heights and historical heroic past”[32].

This Himalayan region opened richest possibilities for researches in botany and zoology, archeology, linguistics, traditional medicine, and a number of most unexpected trends of science.

The “Urusvati” Institute which started to actively work in Kullu in 1929, expanded its activities in the 30s of the last century. A special role in its preparation was played by the Central-Asian expedition of 1923–1928. Unique collections formed en route during this expedition gave an opportunity, without slowing down the tempo of work, to proceed to researches, introducing methods of new science in the Institute. Considering knowledge from different sciences as something synthetic, not split into different fields, the Roerichs reflected this idea in the structure of the Institute itself. Departments of archeology, natural sciences, medicine, a scientific library, a museum for keeping found during the expedition objects were opened. Departments had subdivisions. Under the archeological department, there were sections of general history, history of Asian peoples’ cultures, history of ancient art, linguistics and philology. The natural department conducted botanical and zoological studies, meteorological and astronomic observations, studies of cosmic rays in highland conditions. In the medical department, beside studies of ancient Tibetan medicine and pharmacopoeia, a biochemical laboratory was organized, where methods of fighting against cancer were studied. The whole Roerich family participated in the Institute work. Helena Roerich, being its Founder-President, in fact led various fields of its scientific activities. Nicholas Roerich, who combined in himself the synthesis of art and science and considerable organizational abilities, was, same as Helena Roerich, its founder and ideologist. Yuri Roerich, the Roerichs’ elder son, became the Institute Director. Being by that time already a well-known scientist possessing a wide cosmic world outlook, he contributed a lot of fruitful ideas into the Institute creative work. The younger son, Svetoslav Roerich, artist, expert in ancient art and local flora, was also a wonderful botanist and ornithologist. The versatility of knowledge and occupations of each member of the Roerichs family, under conditions of their harmonious collaboration and tireless energy, contributed to the success and wide recognition of the “Urusvati” Institute both in India and far beyond.

Major scientists of various countries collaborated with the Institute and participated in its programs. The most close interaction was established between the Roerichs and scientists and cultural workers of India, such as Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, Jadadish Chandra Bose, Rabindranat Tagore, Abanindranat Tagore, Ashit Kumar Haldar, Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, Ramananda Chatterjee, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Teija Singh, Das Gupta, K.P.P. Tampi, R.M. Raval, and others. Among Western scientists, the “Urusvati” collaborators and advisors, A. Einstein, R. Millican, L. Broil, President of the American Archeological Institute R. Magoffin, famous traveler and researcher Sven Guedin, Professor of the Pasteur Institute in Paris S. Metalnikov, Orientalist Charles Lanman, Professor from Paris K. Lozina-Lozinsky, French archeologist K. Bunsson, Director of the Botanical Garden in New York E.D. Merrill, and many others can be mentioned. Soviet Academician N. Vavilov, until his very arrest, kept correspondence on problems of botany with Svetoslav Roerich. All of them were attracted to the “Urusvati” Institute not only by the unique area of Himalayas, but by those methods of scientific studies, at the basis of which methodology of the new system of cognition lay. The work characteristic feature was “constant mobility”, regular expeditions, in which the Institute “employees and correspondents”[33] took part. “We need, N. Roerich wrote on this subject, what Hindus so heartily and significantly call “ashram”. This is the core. But the “ashram” mental nutrition is obtained in various places. Quite unexpectedly, wanderers come, each with his own accumulations. But the “ashram” workers do not sit in one place either. At each new opportunity, they go in different directions and replenish their internal reserves <...> Actually, any exchange of scientific forces, any expeditions and wanderings become an indispensable condition for any success. At that, people also learn to expand the limits of their specialty. A wanderer can see a lot. A wanderer, if he is not blind, even unwillingly will see many remarkable things. Thus, a narrow profession, which once seized the whole mankind, is again substituted by broad cognition”[34].

It is necessary, Nicholas Roerich wrote, “both to look high upwards, and penetrate deep inside”[35]. This implies expansion of the space of consciousness, in which the heavenly and the earthly is interwoven to make a single whole, and where the top and the depth is constituted by most important trends of research. In “Urusvati”, methods of empiric science were combined with metascientific ones. Moral and ethical issues had great significance as well. The founders themselves were highly spiritual and moral people carrying in themselves new cosmic world perception. Spiritual knowledge, accumulated in the Himalayas, got experimental confirmation. It was in “Urusvati” that they started to cognize scientifically subtle energies, magnetic currents, cosmic rays, other states of matter. The idea that the reason for many earthly phenomena is lying in Cosmos, in the worlds of a higher state of matter, penetrated the Institute scientific concepts. They opened before its workers the boundless character of scientific studies, took science out of crisis, and rendered groundless the thoughts of the end of science. New science, corresponding to cosmic thinking, must have relation to the Higher, to go out into the infinity of cognition of the Universe in all its complexity. This relation was first of all characteristic of the Roerichs themselves and a few more scientists who clearly understood the significance of interaction with the Higher powers. The energetic world outlook of the new cosmic thinking made a real basis for researches of the “Urusvati” scientists. In the Institute work, a lot of attention was given to the problems of human consciousness, psychic energy, and the influence of the energy of man himself on scientific experiments. All this formed different approaches to laboratory studies.

In a short period of the Institute existence, a lot was done. The “Urusvati” complex expeditions went across the ancient valley of Kullu, Lahoul, Beshar, Kangra, Ladakh, Zanskar. The major Manchurian expedition of 1935 also falls within this period. The Institute museum was replenished with richest collections: botanical, ornithological, geological, archeological. Yuri Roerich collected most precious samples of Himalayan folklore. Three solid volumes of the Institute studies and individual scientific studies of its workers were published, buildings were erected, laboratory equipment was acquired and put into operation, the library was considerably enriched. Founder-President Helena Roerich, in connection with the Institute third anniversary, said: “Don’t let us forget that the valley of Kullu which has collected in itself all the majestic names of humanity starting from Manu, Buddha, Arjuna, all the Pandava heroes, Vyasa, Gesser Khan, is an exceptional area, the scientific value of which only starts to get revealed, but, even at the beginning, it strikes with its richest material. Both in historical, archeological, philological, and botanical, geological, and physical aspects. The Institute is to perform, as it is obvious already now, most fruitful work”[36]. The Institute work first success allowed the Roerichs to see and elaborate the prospect for its development. “The Station (the “Urusvati Institute – L.Sh.) must develop into a city of Knowledge, H. Roerich pointed out. – We wish to produce a synthesis of scientific achievements in this city. That is why all branches of science must be represented in it afterwards. And since knowledge has the whole Cosmos as its source, the scientific station participants must belong to the whole world, that is to all nations; and, same as Cosmos is indivisible in its functions, the scientists of the whole world must be indivisible in their achievements, in other words, united in closest collaboration. The station location is chosen absolutely consciously and deliberately, for the Himalayas give countless possibilities in all respects. The scientific world attention is directed now at these heights. Study of the new cosmic rays giving to the mankind new, most precious energies, is only possible on heights, for all the subtlest, the most precious lies in purer layers of atmosphere”[37]. A grandiose plan – a city of Knowledge – was conceived, which was to become the world catalyst of the new science of cosmic thinking. And more: “Foundation of a city of synthetic knowledge is a great world cause, so we can not just ask for, but demand assistance. Not for ourselves we are working, but for the humanity. Everyone is ready to contribute the best efforts for the common benefit, let the others also understand this pure aspiration and light up for promotion of the mankind on the way to synthetic knowledge”[38].

But the plans were not to come true. The historical events were such that not only so desired for science city of Knowledge did not appear, but even its first result, the Institute of Himalayan Studies, was deprived of any possibility for future development.

At the beginning of the 30s of the last century, a world economic crisis started. Organizations which financed the “Urusvati” could not do it any more. “…Suddenly American financial crises thundered, N. Roerich wrote with bitterness. – European confusion murmured. The funds were cut. It will not be possible to maintain a whole scientific institution on paintings alone. They gave all they could, and more can be taken nowhere. While the general interest for the Himalayas is constantly growing. Annual expeditions are sent here from all parts of the world. New excavations reveal the most ancient cultures of India. Most precious manuscripts and murals are discovered in old monasteries of Tibet. Ayurveda again acquires its former significance, and most serious specialists are again directing their attention to this ancient heritage <...> Everything is there, but there is no money[39].

Then the Second World War started, and the relations that nourished intellectually the Institute activities were broken. “First we found ourselves separated from Vienna, Nicholas Roerich noted, then from Prague. Warsaw was cut off <…> Gradually, contacts with the Baltic countries became difficult. Sweden, Denmark, Norway disappeared from correspondence. Bruges fell silent. Belgrade, Zagreb, Italy plunged into silence. Paris finished. America turned out to be at the back of beyond, and letters either did not reach the addressee at all, or went around over distant seas and stayed for a long time under censorship. Now you cannot write any more to Portugal. From Riga, there is no answer to the telegram. The Far East fell silent <…> Switzerland has turned out to be a bewitched country. It is not allowed anywhere. And it is impossible to write to the Motherland either, and they requested about herbs from there. Who knows which letters were lost. Who is alive, and who has already moved to a better world?”[40]

He called this state of separation from the world an island. The Institute, the activities of which were relying on the world relations, naturally, could not continue working, even if the funds were there. It had to be suspended. Collections were put into boxes, laboratory equipment was dismantled, residential quarters where arriving scientists stayed were closed. Successfully working Institute seemed to have ceased existing. In a few years, the war finished. India, after bloody opposition of Hindus and Muslims, got independence. In 1947, Nicholas Roerich died, in 1955, Helena Roerich passed away. In 1957, Yuri Roerich went to the Soviet Union, and, in 1960, unexpectedly died there. Only Svetoslav Roerich stayed.

L. Shaposhnikova, present General Director of the N. Roerich Museum and Vice-President of the International Center of the Roerichs, met him in 1968, when she came to India with a delegation of the first Jawaharlal Nehru Prize Winners. And in 1972, Svetoslav Roerich invited her to visit the Roerichs’ villa in Kullu. It was then that Ludmila Shaposhnikova saw for the first time the Himalayas, the ancient valley of Kullu, and the Roerichs’ house standing on a wooded slope above the ancient village of Naggar. Svetoslav Roerich showed her the “Urusvati” Institute, which was located in a deodar grove a little higher on the slope. “Along a narrow path, we rose to a cozy platform covered with bright-green grass, L. Shaposhnikova remembered, there, in the middle of the trees, two buildings of the Institute of Himalayan Studies stood. One of them was still bearing the sign – “Urisvati”.

– All this slope and the grove, Svetoslav Roerich made a gesture showing around, belong to the Institute. Twenty acres of land that my father, Nicholas Roerich, gave for this purpose. In this house, – he pointed at a two-storey building, – foreign and Indian collaborators worked and lived. And further you see the laboratory building.

A little aside, down the slope, Ludmila Shaposhnikova continued her story, there was a pile of stones which obviously used to be the foundation of some structure. It turned out that there was a house where lived Tibetan lamas who helped Yuri Roerich in his historical and linguistic studies.

We started examining the house. The steps resounded in empty premises, rooms followed one another. In one of the rooms, we stopped before a door. A massive lock was hanging on it. Its rusted mechanism long would not yield to the key. At last, it opened with a creak and we found ourselves in a big room. The light could hardly penetrate through the chinks of tightly closed shutters. When the eyes got used to the darkness, I saw standing everywhere boxes. They were piled on top of each other, they were many, a thick layer of dust was covering them. Glass cabinets stood along the room walls.

– Our collections, Svetoslav Roerich dropped shortly.

Here collections partially left from the Central-Asian expedition and collections formed by the Himalayan expeditions of the Institute collaborators were kept. I saw before me unique, richest material, untouched by a scientist’s hand for a few decades. The cabinets and boxes contained precious ethnographical, archeological, and other collections. The ornithological collection comprised about 400 species of birds, now some of them have already disappeared. The botanical collection completely represented the flora of the Kullu valley. The geological collection contained many rare minerals. Zoological, pharmacological, and paleonthological collections were also kept here.

We passed to the next room, where shelves with books stretched along the walls. The library counted more than four thousand volumes which included many rare editions. The books have not been taken from the shelves for a long time, the equipment was not used… But still, all that Svetoslav Roerich showed to me did not produce a depressing impression of neglect and decay. It seemed that people left those premises not so long ago, for some circumstances beyond their control unexpectedly and suddenly distracted from interesting work. They only had time to pack the collections and lock the libraries and laboratories doors…

– This is what “Urusvati” is now, – Svetoslav Roerich sadly lowered his head. – But the Soviet scientists can work here?! – and his eyes smiled. – Both my father and brother spoke about it not once. Why don’t Soviet and Indian scientists work here together? All this, – he looked around, – can be at their disposal. Russians started, Russians must continue…

And this theme “Russians started, Russians must continue” sounded in our talks the whole day.

– You must know, – Svetoslav Roerich said, – that this Institute is not just another scientific institution. The future of science is laid in it. Then, during the war and after, the Institute fate was not easy, and researches and scientific methodology laid in it were interrupted. Laid not by us, the Roerichs, but by our Teacher who created the Living Ethics, and whose plans we were implementing. You know, everything was planned very interestingly, and even more interestingly was executed. All those acts, in which we participated, contained not only the future of the new science, but the future of the evolution of mankind, its transformation, its new forms of existence.

More and more often, – L. Shaposhnikova remembers, – it sounded: New epoch, new cosmic thinking, new science. And in a few days, Svetoslav Roerich asked me to pass his offer to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He wanted that a group of Soviet scientists arrive in Kullu and settle the problem of joint collaboration with India in the Institute of Himalayan Studies. I agreed, and, upon arrival in Moscow, passed all this to those on whom fulfillment of Svetoslav Roerich’s request depended. But scientists did not show much interest for all that, the situation was changing, the difficulties of what was planned were growing. At that time, in the eighties, despite all efforts, nothing could be settled. But this did not mean that Svetoslav Roerich’s suggestion had no future. Many years have passed since then, the USSR disappeared, separate states were formed in its place, Svetoslav Roerich transferred to Russia the heritage of his parents. The N. Roerich Center-Museum appeared in Moscow. In India, in Kullu, the International Roerich Memorial Trust was formed, which included representatives of the central Government of the country, the Government of the Himachal Pradesh State. The Trust Board of Trustees included employees of the Russian Embassy and Russian scientists. The governments of India and the state financed many things in the Roerichs’ estate, what was so different from the attitude of the Russian Government towards the N. Roerich Center-Museum in Moscow. The Museum survived and is still working only on donations of Russian people.

In 1993, Svetoslav Roerich died, the last of the Great Roerich family. After his death, I was a few times in Kullu, – Ludmila Shaposhnikova tells, – visiting India as a member of the International Roerich Memorial Trust Board of Trustees. And every time, I found something new – a Museum of the Himalayan Traditional Art in one of the “Urusvati” buildings, new structures for artistic exhibitions and scientific symposia, an open theatre on the slope of the hill where the Institute was situated. The last visit as part of the delegation of the International Center of the Roerichs, invited by the Karnataka State Government for celebration of Svetoslav Roerich’s 100th anniversary, was especially interesting for me. Together with us, representatives of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences with its Vice-President G. Foursey visited Kullu. We were all interested, first of all, in the problem of renaissance of “Urusvati”, unique Institute of new science. The works that were conducted in the Roerichs’ estate in Kullu, did not yet involve this important problem, though the laboratory building was already being repaired. But India can hardly be blamed for this. Having discussed in Kullu a number of questions related to the “Urusvati’ renaissance, we undertook some steps in this direction. The Unified Scientific Center for Problems of Cosmic Mentality (USC CM), established on the basis of the International Center of the Roerichs, was informed about intentions in respect of the “Urusvati”, and its Board of Directors deemed it necessary not only to initiate the process of the Institute renaissance, but to take part in it as well.

At the meeting of the International Roerich Memorial Trust Board of Trustees (IRMT) in the spring of 2005, a draft Protocol of joint intentions of the International Center of the Roerichs and the IRMT was presented. The question of the “Urusvati” Institute renaissance took an important place in it.

The draft was discussed and approved in principle.

It was decided to work on the “Urusvati” Institute of Himalayan Studies renaissance along two trends: memorial-and-museum and research-scientific, which is to be realized by joint efforts of Indian and Russian scientists. It was suggested that concrete programs be elaborated to develop the Protocol of joint intentions of the ICR and IRMT.

On the whole, it should be noted that important positive decisions on the Roerichs Museum-Estate in Naggar were made thanks to the attention on the part of the Himachal Pradesh Government and its Head Minister personally, and to the support of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in India, and personally Ambassador V. Troubnikiv”.

Notes

1 Aum, 440.
2 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 1. – P. 394.
3 Brotherhood, 528.
4 Aum, 309.
5 Same, 61.
6 Brotherhood, 425.
7 Same, 526.
8 Infinity, 75.
9 Brotherhood, 459.
10 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 2. – P. 219.
11 Agni Yoga, 56.
12 Fiery World. P. III, 161.
13 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 1. – P. 360.
14 Brotherhood, 418.
15 Aum, 309.
16 Fiery World. – P. I, 459.
17 Infinity, 145.
18 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 1. – P. 21.
19 Infinity, 584.
20 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 1. – P. 343.
21 Brotherhood, 365.
22 Fiery World. – P. I, 646.
23 Brotherhood, 341.
24 Agni Yoga, 80.
25 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 2. – P. 31.
26 N. Roerich. Urusvati.– Ì., 1993. – P. 24.
27 Same. – P. 58.
28 Same. – P. 3 – 4.
29 Same. – P. 64.
30 Same. – P. 57–58.
31 Same. – P. 36.
32 Same. – P. 59.
33 Same. – P. 74.
34 Same.
35 Same. – P. 75.
36 Quotation after: N. Roerich. Urusvati. – P. 71.
37 Helena Roerich’s Letters: In 2 v. – Riga, 1940. – V. 1. – P. 60.
38 Same. – Ñ. 61.
39 N. Roerich. Urusvati. – P. 77.
40 Same. – Ñ. 78.